Navigate → Reveal in Binder vs Navigate → Move Focus To → Binder

When I

Navigate → Move Focus To → Binder, the Document or Folder is easy to identify in the Binder: white title on blue background

Navigate → Reveal in Binder , the Document or Folder is barely recognizable in the Binder (just a light grey background).

Is there any way to improve Reveal in Binder to make it more visible without changing my Mac display theme?

Suggestion: why not use the same display for both, preferably that of Navigate → Move Focus To → Binder

thank you

The idea (and this is not our idea, this is how your Mac works) for having a strong distinction between active and inactive states is so that you can more easily tell where keyboard focus is. If there is little to no difference then you must struggle more to figure out what’s going to happen when you press ⌘delete. Is it going to delete some text to the beginning of the current line, delete the selected bookmark from the inspector (which uses the same visual signalling) or is it going to fire off the document to the Trash?

You do have some say in the matter though, in Appearance: Binder: Options, with Base selection color on background color. The selection and active document highlight will now no longer be based on your system defaults, and by tweaking the background colour of the binder itself, you can find areas where the algorithm creates more accentuation (or less, if that is what you want).

The “Solarized (Light)” theme, for example, makes it pretty obvious when the binder is focussed or not, but maybe the passive highlight is too subtle for you? “A Midsummer Night” on the other hand has almost no distinction between active and passive, and which is selected by Reveal is always very obvious.

And of course, you may also find that leaving the setting off, using system highlights, but a custom binder background is the better choice for you. Since system highlights do not change depending on the background colour, you can more easily find complimentary colours that offer very little ambiguity against inactive grey vs active accent colour.

thank you very much Ioa. Your answer is very clear and most helpful